Rick Perry and Republican Debate at the Hampton Subway

Republican hopeful RickPerry was the only one of the four candidates speaking in our company cafeteria in Hampton Bays who took the subway to get there. He was spotted on the Westhampton to Hampton Bays line.

REPUBLICAN DEBATE

The big news this week for Hampton Subway was the debate held in our cafeteria by the four Republican hopefuls. Mitt Romney and NewtGingrich stared at each other through much of it. RickSantorum asked each how they got named Mitt and Newt respectively, they are so odd. Neither chose to respond directly. Romney talked about the necessity of fielding an opponent against Obama who was not a whacko. Gingrich said it was all about the economy, stupid. After the debate ended, the employees were polled about who they favored. The results were 18 all of them, 18 none of them, 4 Romney, 3 Gingrich, 2 Perry and 1 Santorum. A write-in for Sarah Palin was not counted. [expand]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY “HAPPY” JONES

Happy Jones, one of the happiest people ever, is 41 years old this Wednesday. He’s worked on the subway system all his adult life, starting out as a shoe shine boy on the Southampton platform, then becoming a newsboy hawking the daily paper on the EastHampton platform, then turning in his bicycle to become a porter in the dining car, then doing a stint handing out towels in the men’s room. He loves working on the subway system no matter what he does, and his most recent job is mopping and then waxing the Hampton Bays platform five times a day. Everybody loves Happy. He has a wink and a smile for everybody no matter what he does. We celebrate in the Hampton Subway cafeteria at 3 p.m. Tuesday when everyone is invited to come down and have some of the wonderful Angel Food Cake with a candle in it that Happy is baking for everyone. No gifts please!

SIGNAGE

Hampton Subway is a member of the Metropolitan Transit Authority in New York. Sometimes we wish we weren’t. Last month, the MTA refused a request for us to add more signs on the platforms and stairs indicating directions to the trains. They said we only have one platform and one train going though at each stop so having more signs was just clutter. Also they saw no need to indicate that subway was the “A Line,” since they were all the same trains. We now ask our straphangers to step forward. For $250 you can adopt a sign reading THIS WAY TO THE A LINE. There is currently just one sign at each platform. We want to add six more so it looks more like a real subway station. Pick your platform.

COMMISSIONER ASPINALL’S MESSAGE

I have been down here in Mexico City this past week with my friend former Mayor Rudolph Guiliani. He had a contract for a while as an adviser to the subway system down here and the attendant MexicoCity police force. The subway system here is quite overwhelming, with lots of stops and lots of lines. I find it confusing especially since none of it is in English.